I wonder if the new corporate entity will be joined into the suit, since it seems to have been created to allow continued operations, and to escape payment of damages, thus being more a fraud on the court. If this is the case, I would hope the court would also me amenable to attaching personal assets of the principals.

Oh man, I feel for these guys, I truly do. All of that hard work that they've been carrying out for the betterment of all of the United States of America is going to be all for naught, and all because of Judge...

Bahahahaha I can't keep it up any longer. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Oh man, I feel for these guys, I truly do. All of that hard work that they've been carrying out for the betterment of all of the United States of America is going to be all for naught, and all because of Judge...

Bahahahaha I can't keep it up any longer. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

"On Friday, Prenda filed an emergency motion to appeal that order, saying that the "onerous bond conditions" have it up against a wall, and that it's in danger of losing "its ability to appeal what it believes to be serious violations of its Due Process rights.""

Gee that sounds like a familiar business strategy for someone involved in this case...you know making it very expensive for someone to appeal and get their deserved due process even if they are truly innocent.

I would really like to see these lawyers up on some sort of charges, have their bar privileges revoked at the federal court level and the state court level and forbidden to practice law again anywhere. They should also be required to provide a sample of DNA and forbidden to change their names.

Then.....they should be dragged, in chains through the streets of Washington DC, with a herald in front of them announcing their misdeeds as a warning to others.

Now that interested parties are on the track of Prendatrolls seeding files, they hope to file lawsuits over, on P2P networks, they want to slither their operations to the shelter of another sewer lid.RICO, RICO, RICO. The whole thing, from willfully distributing material, then sending threatening letters through the US mail over that same material, taking in unaccounted for monies that, most likely, have not been legally taxed, then attempting to reorganize the operation under the management of the same principals once unethical, illegal and criminal activities have been discovered. Yes, RICO, you have some 'splaining to do.

Florida does have a few crocodiles and they can be encountered along the main land connection to the keys. They can be found swimming in the ocean around there too but they do not go far. You can recognize the American crocodile by the slimmer snout than the alligators.

Throwing arsians under buses and 'tabloiding' little blond girls is not your cup of tea.

Yeah, and you should stick to reading Prenda stories. Don't complicate the comic book in your head. Stick to your favorite villains.

Really?

Bit much, that. No taking the high road, I see. Ah well, this is the new Ars.

Honestly, I'd say that was a bit of a high road, there is no need to drag the shenanigans from previous articles forward into entirely unrelated and well written articles such as this. Doing so will just detract form anything we might have had in our moral disagreement with said previous articles.

"On Friday, Prenda filed an emergency motion to appeal that order, saying that the "onerous bond conditions" have it up against a wall, and that it's in danger of losing "its ability to appeal what it believes to be serious violations of its Due Process rights.""

Gee that sounds like a familiar business strategy for someone involved in this case...you know making it very expensive for someone to appeal and get their deserved due process even if they are truly innocent.

"On Friday, Prenda filed an emergency motion to appeal that order, saying that the "onerous bond conditions" have it up against a wall, and that it's in danger of losing "its ability to appeal what it believes to be serious violations of its Due Process rights.""

Gee that sounds like a familiar business strategy for someone involved in this case...you know making it very expensive for someone to appeal and get their deserved due process even if they are truly innocent.

Prenda isn't innocent.

Correct, they havent been proven guilty(yet),, never mind charges not being brought yet, but thats a far cry from innocent.

It's interesting to note that there seems to be more judicial-level awareness of, and distaste for, the types of heretofore unchallenged legal shenanigans that Prenda and their ilk have been performing. The fact that Judge Wright dealt as harshly with Prenda and its personnel as he did is a heart-warming sign that their sort of (il)legal activity won't be so easy to get away with in the future. Hopefully he's discouraged other potential copyright trolls from starting up in the future.

I'm also gladdened by the refusal of the courts to let Prenda disengage from their cases, instead requiring them to finish up and lose as they should. The legal system, while far from perfect, doesn't warrant their kind of systemic abuse of process.

Ars Technica is doing quite a service to the public in terms of shedding light on the whole process of copyright trolling. People have a right to know that they're being strong-armed/blackmailed/hoodwinked when they get demand letters. Thank you for providing a valuable service in terms of information dissemination and analysis, it's much appreciated!

I feel their pain. The cops confiscated my coke. How am I supposed to pay my bail if I can't sell that coke?

Except that big drug dealers' personal assets are usually seized, so at least that would be a reasonable excuse. The Prenda guys' personal assets haven't; I can't imagine that between the lot of them they can't come up with enough to post this bond.

I feel their pain. The cops confiscated my coke. How am I supposed to pay my bail if I can't sell that coke?

Except that big drug dealers' personal assets are usually seized, so at least that would be a reasonable excuse. The Prenda guys' personal assets haven't; I can't imagine that between the lot of them they can't come up with enough to post this bond.

I imagine most if not all of those personal assets are now in numbered Swiss accounts by now...... wouldnt surprise me if they tried to plead poverty since they have been held joint and severally responsible for paying the sanctions. I really hope the new phoenix company Anti-Piracy Law Group gets added to the sanctions since it is owned and operated by the same people and therefore forms a part of their assets.

[quote="[url=http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=24716007#p24716007] Lets all learn from the fallout, not continue it.[/quote]

My vote, as a reader who has been here lurking since around 2000, is to just ban the haters who cross over from a rational, reasonable complaint into just insulting the authors and editors, and trolling their posts.

If you're trolling the author's other articles because of one you didn't like, no, you shouldn't be listened to; you should be kicked out. Lesson learned.

I don't think YOU will learn not to troll, but ars might learn to kick trolls out as soon as they start trolling.

So their arguments are:1. We are abandoning the exposed shell companies, leaving them with no remaining assets, and moving everything to new shell companies that can't be touched (we hope).2. If we succeed in moving all assets out of reach, it is unfair to deny us the means to appeal by forcing us to put up an additional bond first.

Prenda Law is shutting down? Sounds like Pren & Da is opening up!Somebody audit these guys for everything they got. Closing and opening companies is a normal business practice with them, I'd like to have somebody (IRS, for once you guys are the heroes) just run through all their financials for 100% proof that they're shutting down.

So their arguments are:1. We are abandoning the exposed shell companies, leaving them with no remaining assets, and moving everything to new shell companies that can't be touched (we hope).2. If we succeed in moving all assets out of reach, it is unfair to deny us the means to appeal by forcing us to put up an additional bond first.

Is that all of it?

That is why Judge Wright made the liability for sanctions joint and several. It will be up to the appeals court to make it stick.

It's interesting to note that there seems to be more judicial-level awareness of, and distaste for, the types of heretofore unchallenged legal shenanigans that Prenda and their ilk have been performing. The fact that Judge Wright dealt as harshly with Prenda and its personnel as he did is a heart-warming sign that their sort of (il)legal activity won't be so easy to get away with in the future. Hopefully he's discouraged other potential copyright trolls from starting up in the future.(...snip...)

I'd like to agree, but the cynic in my head is telling me that if he's taught the trolls, collectively, anything at all, it would be that they should avoid his venue at all costs - and perhaps nothing more. It would be interesting to secretly (magically!) poll all of the trolls with similar business models, to determine whether or not they've modified their behavior as a result of Judge Wright's approach to this case. If their "trade" is lucrative, then they most likely have made only minor adjustments, if any. Until their business model actually becomes illegal, I don't think that one judge or one case, no matter how publicly visible, can curtail it, let alone eliminate it. The only hope is for The Wright Idea to ripple into legislative bodies.

Ars Technica is doing quite a service to the public in terms of shedding light on the whole process of copyright trolling. People have a right to know that they're being strong-armed/blackmailed/hoodwinked when they get demand letters. Thank you for providing a valuable service in terms of information dissemination and analysis, it's much appreciated!